


Beef Soup for the Soul

by Agent C (arh581958)



Category: Avengers Academy (Video Game), Marvel, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - School, Bingo 2016, Cuddles, Cute boys in-love, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Slice of Life, Stony Bingo, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Young!Tony, caregiver!Steve, feverish!Tony, sick!fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-24
Updated: 2016-05-24
Packaged: 2018-06-10 11:04:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6953923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arh581958/pseuds/Agent%20C
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A flu pandemic hits the school, and most of the Avengers are down. Steve is safe because of the supersoldier serum running through his veins. He, of course, does what every lovesick school boy would do--take care of his sick boyfriend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beef Soup for the Soul

**Author's Note:**

> **CAP_IRONMAN BINGO 2016 ROUND 1** : [S3] _Cuddling_

If there was one thing that Steve liked most about the supersoldier serum, it was his ability invulnerability to a wide-range of medical diseases. Today, he took special care in remembering Erskine in his prayers.

The Avengers were down, of all thing, from the common flu. It came fast and brutal, starting from Sharon’s running nose which soon became a full-blown fever, spreading like wild-fire across their ranks. Only a handful remained standing after the pandemic arrived—the Guardians of the Galaxy except Peter, all of whom were of non-earth descent; Thor, Loki, and Sif were basically gods; and _Steve_.

Classes had been cancelled until at least fifty-percent of the student population received clearance from medical. Healthy students were given an unscheduled break, and immediate they fled the grounds as soon as Fury gave the go-ahead.

Steve knew exactly what he needed to do.

***

After the announcement, Steve packed a bag and drove home to Brooklyn.

He came back the very same day.

***

AA’s campus was a ghost town. Unlike the regular commotion of rowdy students hitting up Club A or chilling outdoors after class hours, nothing but empty space welcomed Steve on his return. It was eerily silent as he made his way to the dorms.

He found Tony inside his room—Steve’s room—curled up on the bed. The tuff of dark brown hair sticking out from the edges of the thick quilt made out of Steve’s old t-shirts. Steve couldn’t help but grin, locating his boyfriend on the first try.

Carefully places his rucksack on the table, he made his way to Tony, and wove a hand through the sweat-damp strands. “Hey, baby,” he greeted, dropping a kiss to Tony’s forehead. Tan skin felt hot against his chapped lips.

Tony moved with a groan. “St’ve? S’tat you?” He pulled off the blankets to look wearily at Steve, blinking slowly like a lost child. Then, his whole face lighted up with a grin. “Hi, ‘sup?”

Steve discovered, with childish glee, that Tony wore one of _his_ pullovers. It was too bit for Tony’s slighter frame, appearing as though it drowned the dark-haired boy, but Tony looked utterly _comfortable_ in it.

“Hey, baby, I’ve got some soup. Do you feel like eating?”

He also had meticulously wrapped burgers in layers upon layers of aluminum foil and wax paper to ensure freshness and warmth but he kept it a secret for now. Tony didn’t look like he could keep it down.

Tony pushed himself to sit down. The action took more strength than usual. His arms shook the entire way up. “Yeah, I think I could eat… Just lemme—” he plucked a box of Kleenex from under the covers, and pulled a white sheet to blow his nose. “Yeah. I can’t actually remember the last time I ate. I think I threw it up.”

Steve frowned at that.

“Hey, no, don’t give me the Mr. Frowny Face,” Tony complained, leaning heavily against Steve and shivering. “I didn’t mean to… just sorta happened, ya know?”

Steve wrapped an arm over Tony, pulling the other boy closer. He turned and planted a small kiss on top of Tony’s messy curls. “I know, baby, can you try and keep down the soup this time? Mom’ll get sad if it went to waste.”

At that, Tony’s head jerked up. He glanced up at Steve with disbelieving eyes. “You went to _Brooklyn_ and asked you mom to cook me _soup_? That’s where you’ve been all along while I was laying on your bed _dying_?”

Steve snorted. “Don’t be such a drama queen, Tony. I was only gone for a few hours.” He pinched the tip of Tony’s noise affectionately. “Come on, then.” He pulled away to get the vacuum-sealed container of still-hot soup. “This isn’t going to finish itself.”

Tony wouldn’t budge. On the contrary, he seemed to cling _more_. “I dunwanna move…” he complained, flopping his head on the side of Steve’s arm.

“Tony, if you don’t eat, you’re not going to get better any faster.” Steve fussed over re-arranging the bed. He pulled the quilt down to Tony’s lap, the fleece blanket over Tony’s shoulders, and stacked pillows behind Tony’s back. Tony was giving him big puppy-dog eyes. It clicked. He stared at his boyfriend in surprise. “You want me to feed you, don’t you?”

Tony’s face split into a wide grin, looking like he’d won at life. “Yep- _p._ ” He popped his lip on the p-sound. “I totally want you to feed lil’ ol’ me, and I want to see your gorgeous arm muscles move when you do it. So, shirt off, Steve. Indulge me.”

Steve rolled his eyes. “I think I _indulge_ you enough as it is.”

Tony looked at him with mock innocence. “You’re going it anyway.”

Steve shook his head and sigh. “Yeah,” he agreed, peeling off the layers of his jacket, Henley, and t-shirt. He blushed slightly at Tony’s lewd wolf-whistle.

“Now, that’s what I’m talking about. You sure know how to make a guy feel special.” Tony eyes the expanse of Steve’s skin on display—shoulders, arms, torso, and _abs_. He patted to the open space beside him. “Okay, I’m good. Why don’t you come here and feed me, babe?”

“I will.”

Steam came out of the container when Steve opened it. The intense smell of broth beef soup flooded the room. Sarah Rogers made this for Steve whenever he was sick. Today, she made it especially for Tony.

“Open up.” Steve blew on the spoon while waiting for Tony to follow.

“Ahhhh,” Tony said playfully. Steve didn’t mind. In truth, it was endearing. He fed the warm soup to Tony, carefully not to spill any of its contents. The sounds Tony made was _filthy_. “Oh my god, Steve, this is ah-may-zing,” he sing-songed, opening his mouth again. “More.”

Steve laughed, and fed his boyfriend another spoonful. They continued on just like that, and Tony finished the whole bowl in no time at all.

“I feel like a whale,” Tony complained despite the happy-sounding hum he made, poking at his slightly distended belly over the covers. “You—” he pointed an accusatory finger at his boyfriend, “—are a conspirator in Plan Make-Tony-Fat _._ ”

“And just _who_ exactly are the rest?”

“Your mom, of course! Sarah makes the best food _ever_.”

“I highly doubt that, Tony. You have a five-star chef at your house back in Malibu.”

“Yeah, but Sarah’s cooking feels like home, ya know?”

Steve gaped as his boyfriend’s words. He knew about Tony’s rocking life at home. He didn’t expect the truth to come so easily from Tony. Maybe it was the drugs or the fever. He remembered, “Your medication, where is it?”

“Table.” Tony pointed.

Steve picket up the small cylindrical yellow bottle and a bottle of water. “Here.” He handed Tony the proper dosage before offering the water. When that was said and done, he put back all the items on the bedside table. “How’re you feeling?” He stroked a hand on Tony’s cheek.

“Like shit, actually,” Tony admitted in a small voice.

“Anything I can do to help?”

Tony looked torn between answering but Steve patiently waited. Sometimes Tony took a little longer to open up. “You don’t…” he bit his lips for a moment, “uh, you don’t get sick, right? I mean… not as easy as this?”

“No.” Steve shook his head. “It’ll take a lot more than that to bring me down. Why?”

“So you won’t get sick if, you know… stay with me in bed?”

Steve wordlessly climbed onto the bed without answering. He rearranged them again so that Tony could like down on his chest, and his arms were curled around the other boy. Tony was hot to the touch and shivering. “C’mere,” he beckoned, burrowing under the quilt, “but no complaining when I start sweating like a pig under all these layers.”

“I won’t,” Tony promised, huddling closer, “I like the way you smell.”

 “That wasn’t what you said during the last drill exercise. You said I quote—stunk up the whole bathroom—unquote, don’t you remember?” Steve loved a pliant Tony. One of his hands slid down Tony’s back, and started rubbing gentle circles. He liked it when his mom used to do it for him, and judging by the purr of contentment so did Tony.

“No,” Tony lied, “I didn’t say that…”

Steve hummed absently. “Of course, you didn’t, my mistake.”

“That,” Tony mumbled, sliding even closer. “Feels nice. Don’t stop.” He wiggled to get closer until not an inch was spared between them. He melted under Steve’s gentle caress. “You know, for a nearly 200-lb guy, you’re really as fluffy as a Labrador.”

“Really? We’re going animal references now, Tony?” Steve raised his eyebrow. Tony simply purred again under his touch. Heat emanated from Tony. He worried about it. “If I’m a god, you’re a big kitty. No, not the lion kind or any other fierce big wild cat. I’m talking about a tabby cat with stripes and black ears.” He ruffled Tony’s dark hair. “See? Perfect fit!”

Tony swatted his hands away. “Stop annoying the sick person!”

 “Fine, fine,” Steve acquiesced, pulling his hands away. “Then what are we supposed to do? Knowing you, you’re probably firing all cylinders in that big brains of yours without realizing it. You need to rest, Tony.”

“We can watch a movie?” Tony suggested.

“There’s no TV here.”

“Uhm… I’ve got my StarkPhone prototype? It has a hologram display,” Tony thought aloud. He propped himself on Steve’s chest and demonstrated with his hands. “We can put it like this… than a speaker like that… use the glass as a magnifier and… viola!” A makeshift theatre appeared in Steve’s dorm room.

Steve barked out in laughter. “You,” he nipped at Tony’s nose, “are amazing. I could kiss you if you weren’t laden with sick.”

Tony pouted but didn’t push the topic.

“Okay, okay, but if you’re going to be like that, I want to watch Star Wars Episode IV.”

“Again?”

Tony stuck out his tongue playfully. “Yes. Sick person gets to pick the movie… and the position.”

“Position?” Steve looked at him incredulously.

“Of course!” Tony nodded. “I want to…” he settled himself between Steve’s legs, back to Steve’s chest, and Steve’s arms wrapped around him. “I want to watch the movie like this. Don’t let Steve junior poke me in the ass. I don’t think I can get it up even if I wanted to.” He settled down with the blankets wrapped around them, snuggling Steve.

A lightbulb lit up in Steve’s head. He licked the shell of Tony’s ear. “Is that a warning or a challenge?”

“Steeeeve,” Tony complained, grinding his head against Steve’s shoulder. “I don’t want to… not yet…” He sighed heavily in defeat. He caught Steve’s roaming hands around his midsection, and pulled it to his chest. “Can we at least get to the Han Solo part before we go anything?”

Steve suckled on Tony’s earlobe, whispering huskily, “Try, we shall, Tony. Try, we shall.”

***

Try, they did and they failed.

**Author's Note:**

> Two more. Two more. Two more, and I'll complete the S-column! Push~
> 
> As always, **kudos/comments/bookmarks** are all appreciated by this author. I take comments as extra-kudos and I _do_ read the bookmark tags (some are really fun). 
> 
> If you have a prompt or an idea, you can [INSPIRE ME](http://arh581958.tumblr.com/submit) on tumblr. Or [TALK TO ME](http://arh581958.tumblr.com/ask).


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